YOU are driving on a motorway. You have to slow down quickly due to a hazard - what should you do next? You have a heavy load on your roof rack -what effect will it have on your driving? You are in town and ahead of you a bus is at a bus stop. What two things should you look out for?

If any of these questions made you pause for a second, then perhaps it is time you reviewed your highway code.

Every year more than a million of us take our driving test and according to the latest figures, every year more and more of us fail.

The compulsory test was first introduced in 1935 and as the years have progressed it has entailed increasing detail - perhaps in recognition of the growing dangers as our roads carry larger numbers of vehicles.

The theory test as a written examination was first used in 1996 and was updated to a computer based test in 2000.

In 2007 the number of questions in the theory test was increased from 35 to 50 and in 2009 a case study was introduced to put learning into context and test new drivers’ comprehension of a whole subject area.

Today aspiring drivers must answer 43 questions correctly out of 50 to progress to the practical test. The time limit is 57 minutes.

The Driver and Vehicle Standards Agency denies that the questions have got any more difficult but the pass rate has fallen from from 65.4 per cent in 2007/08 to 51.4 per cent today, with girls doing marginally better than boys.

In the last full year 2013-2014, the national average for passing the theory test in the UK was 51.6 per cent but in Scotland across its large cities, learner drivers fared rather better - Aberdeen (53.7%), Inverness (54.9%), Edinburgh (57%), Dundee (53.9%) and Glasgow (53.8%).

But there were also some interesting statistics. In Gairloch, the pass rate was 82.6 per cent but in Barra it fell to 41.7 per cent.

A spokesman for the DVSA said: “The theory test requires candidates to demonstrate they have a good knowledge of the rules of the road and the theory behind safe driving. We keep the test under constant review to ensure it remains as effective as possible.

“In January 2012 we stopped publishing the live theory test questions to make sure that candidates understand the theory behind safe driving rather than simply learning answers by rote.

“In April 2014 we removed the option for theory tests to be taken with a foreign language voiceover or interpreter, following a public consultation. More than 70 per cent of those who responded supported the withdrawal of foreign language support.”